Sinclair Lewis's Main Street

Sinclair Lewis's novel Main Street is a scathing indictment of life in small-town America during the early years of the 20th century. The novel tells the story of Carol Milford, a young progressive woman raised in St. Paul, who marries Will Kennicott, a small-town doctor. They return to Will's hometown of Gopher Prairie, which is a fictionalized version of Lewis' hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Carol finds life in Gopher Prairie confining. The town is ugly and the people are provincial. She rebels against the constraints of her life in a small town and her limited role as a housewife. Carol Kennicott attempts to institute progressive changes to the town's infrastructure, the library, and the women's clubs; but her attempts are met with derision and scorn.

Many of Lewis's characters are the symbolic voice of prevailing social and cultural attitudes found in America at that time. Through the actions of the main characters, Sinclair Lewis explored the ongoing pressures to belong and conform that he found in small-town America. At the time of its publication in 1920, many of Sinclair Lewis's contemporaries found the book to be bleak and depressing. Some residents of central Minnesota resented their portrayal in the book and the novel was banned by the Public Library in Alexandria, Minnesota. Today the novel survives as the author's complicated and complex view of a specific time and place.